UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education is pleased to partner with other professional development providers, such as county offices of education, to award university credit for participation in high quality programs. Two different forms of credit are available:
Continuing Education Units
Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are a "seat time" measure of participation suitable for seminars, short workshops and other types of courses and programs that do not require participants to demonstrate mastery of knowledge or skills. In CEU-credit bearing courses, participants' work is not graded; however, participants must attend the entire course in order to receive credit. This is typically demonstrated by sign-in and sign-out requirements on each day of training. The number of CEUs awarded is based on the hours of instruction (1 unit for every 10 contact hours, excluding lunch breaks). Credit may be awarded in partial units (e.g., 0.5 or 1.5). Course approval for CEU credit is at the discretion of the Continuing and Professional Education dean and education program director. CEUs appear on participant transcripts as NC, with the number of CEU's and hours indicated. All participants receive a grade report at the conclusion of the course. Official transcripts are available for an additional fee.
Many employers recognize CEUs as a demonstration of commitment to professional development. Others, including some school districts, use the accumulation of continuing education units (CEUs) for advancement on the salary schedule and/or to meet required professional development hours.
Note: Specific forms of professional credit (such as BRN, MCEP) typically require additional approval processes and associated fees to the accrediting agency.
Academic Credit
Courses offered for academic credit are distinguished from CEUs by the grading process. All academic courses require a demonstration of competency (via exams, papers, presentations, etc.) and assignment of a final grade by the instructor. Courses may be offered for a letter grade or on a pass/no pass basis. In either case, participants must receive a passing grade in order to receive academic credit. These courses appear on participants' transcripts with the final grade and number of units/hours indicated. All participants receive a grade report at the conclusion of the course and submission of grades by the instructor. Official transcripts are available for an additional fee.
Academic credit courses are designated with an X and are numbered in either the 300 series (X300 – 399) or 400 (X400-499) series as appropriate:
- 300 series: professional development for teachers; typically methodology-based
- 400 series: discipline-based (psychology, neuroscience, history, etc.)
Courses require the approval of the UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education dean, education unit director and the dean of the appropriate school/college on the main campus (or his/her designee). For X300 courses, the approving campus department is the School of Education. For X400 courses, the department/school/college varies depending on course content. In addition to course approval, all instructors and/or instructors-of-record must be formally approved to teach the course.
Academic credit is the highest form of credit, and thus is more portable and flexible. Courses in the X400 series are sometimes accepted for credit at other colleges and universities. Decisions about degree transferability is solely at the discretion of the degree-granting department or institution to which the participant applies.